Design and Technology
Subject lead: Mrs. Mudassar
Design & Technology prepares children to deal with tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. It encourages children to become independent, creative problem-solvers and think as individuals and as part of a team – making positive changes to their quality of life. It enables them to identify needs and opportunities and to respond to them by developing a range of ideas and by making products and systems. Through the study of Design & Technology, children combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as functions and industrial practices. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate present and past design & technology assessing its use and impact on the world. Design & Technology helps all children to become astute and informed future consumers and potential innovators.
Curriculum Intent - This is what we want the children to learn.
Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous, and practical subject. Design and Technology encourages pupils to learn to think and intervene creatively to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team. At Holy Trinity, we encourage pupils to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and other’s needs, wants and values. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as mathematics, science, the humanities, computing, and art. The pupils are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and its effectiveness and are encouraged to become innovators and risk-takers.
Curriculum Implementation - This is how we will do it.
Our DT curriculum consists of a coherently planned sequence of lessons to ensure progressive coverage of the knowledge, understanding and skills required in the National Curriculum.
In KS1, teachers build on the knowledge and skills gained in DT during early years. Children design, make and evaluate projects using key vocabulary and critical thinking about the topic area to gain specific technical knowledge, such as exploring how buildings can be made stronger and the use of mechanisms (levers, slides, wheels). When evaluating, we encourage children to refer to their initial project design and evaluate how well they have completed it. As part of their work with food, pupils will be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating.
In KS2, the children plan, design, make and evaluate their work at a deeper level. When designing, the children follow a design criterion and describe their design using pictures, diagrams, models, words and ICT and have an awareness of their target audience.
Once a project is complete, the children will evaluate and reflect on their design criteria to assess and critique their own work and at times, the work of their peers.
Food technology is implemented throughout the school in our purpose built and fully equipped kitchen. Children develop an understanding of where food comes from, the importance of a varied and healthy diet and how to prepare this.
DT lessons encourage children to identify real and relevant problems, critically evaluate existing products and then take risks and innovate when designing and creating solutions to given problems. Time is built in to reflect, evaluate and improve on any initial design and prototype stages, using design criteria throughout to support this process.
Opportunities are provided for children to evaluate key events and individuals in history, who have helped shape the world, showing the real impact of design and technology on the wider environment and helping to inspire children to become the next generation of innovators.
Curriculum Impact - This is how we measure it.
Our Design and Technology curriculum enables and encourages our children to becomes designers and critical thinkers. Evaluation of past and present design and technology, develops their critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. Children learn to be passionate and excited by the designing and making of products. By the end of the curriculum, all pupils will have a coherent technological knowledge and range of skills and aspire to become designers of the future.
We ensure the children:
- develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
- build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users and critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
- understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.
Teacher assessment is ongoing, monitoring children’s understanding, knowledge and skills throughout each lesson. Through skillful questioning, focused practical tasks, pupil observations and purposeful evaluations, teachers make informed assessments of pupil learning. Children receive feedback throughout the lessons to help them improve or develop their work. They are also given opportunities to self-evaluate their work and offer ways in which to improve it.
Through our curriculum, we want to ensure that Design and Technology is loved by pupils across school, therefore encouraging them to take risks and become resourceful, innovative and enterprising individuals